OCZ brings performance to 1.8″ SSD storage market

OCZ has already impressed us recently with its Vertex 2 and Agility 2 2.5″ SSD offerings. Both managed to achieve 285MB/s write speeds, 275MB/s read speeds and storage capacities up to 480GB.

Now OCZ has turned its attention to the smaller 1.8″ category, and announced new Vertex 2 and Onyx drives. OCZ has managed to maintain the same read and write speeds in the 1.8″ Vertex 2 as in the larger 2.5″ version. There’s also 4K random writes and 50,000 IOPS. In terms of storage there are 60GB, 120GB, and 240GB options.

The Onyx SSD forgoes some of the performance to achieve an aggressive price point. Read and write speeds are clocked at 145MB/s with 32GB and 64GB capacities available. Power use is just 1 watt.

OCZ will be marketing these two new drives as the perfect solution for ultra-thin notebooks, netbooks, nettops, and tablet PCs. The Vertex 2 is priced at around $244, $477, or $898 depending on the storage size chosen. The more consumer-friendly Onyx is around $108 for the 32GB drive, and $199 for the 64GB model.

I don’t think we’ll see many 240GB Vertex 2 1.8″ drives being bought at that price point, but OCZ must sell a few to make it worth manufacturing them in the first place. Who on earth would spend that much money on a hard drive?

Anyone looking for a speed boost in their netbook or ultra-thin laptop should certainly consider the Vertex 60GB. The price is high, but still affordable while offering fantastic read/write speeds. You will also save battery life and not have to worry so much about hard drive failure.

The Onyx range is cheaper and faster than the Super Talent Value SSD range we heard about back in April. OCZ win hands down in terms of value for money and data transfer speeds meaning Super Talent will need to respond to remain competitive.